75 ball bingo originates from America and is very different to the 90 ball version traditionally played in the UK. The games differ in the way that balls are called, the grids that are used, the classification of winning patterns and of course the most obvious difference, the number of balls that are used.

The grids found on a 75 ball bingo card are of a 5 row by 5 column combination, with each grid containing a maximum of 24 randomly selected numbers. Each of the 5 columns are labelled with a letter so they spell BINGO (i.e. column 1 is labelled B, column 2 is labelled I and so on). Additionally, column 1 (B) displays numbers between 1 and 15, column 2 (I) displays numbers between 16 and 30, column 3 (N) 31 to 45, column 4 (G) numbers between 46 and 60 and finally column 5 (O) displays numbers between 61 and 75. For this reason balls in 75 ball bingo are called by letter and number i.e. G50.

There are no fixed winning patterns in 75 ball bingo, instead there is more variety and target patterns can differ for each game played. As there is more flexibility, winning combinations may take the shape of numbers, letters or simply one of a variety of random patterns. The central square on the 5x5 grid displayed on a ticket is known as a ‘free square’ and is never filled with a number. Instead this can be automatically highlighted if it is part of the target pattern.

In online bingo, the winning combination of numbers will always be displayed on the screen during an ongoing game so as to avoid confusion. With the huge variety of target patterns available, many argue that 75 ball bingo is a much more exciting game than its 90 ball counterpart.